Wednesday, December 22, 2010

My Newest Ties

My newest ties were given to me for Christmas by a couple of students that I teach. I don't know how these boys figured out I liked ties. I don't seem to mention them much at school.

The first tie is from the British Museum
Let's give it some tie stats- Material: silk
Width at widest point: 9cm
Best Knot: Full Windsor
This tie is great for me as a History teacher because it is all about the Ancient Egyptian Civilisation. The student who gave me this tie figured that I didn't have one to go with this topic. So he went out and sourced this tie over the internet so that I could have a tie which would go with the topic. This was a lovely gesture because he knew that it would be so useful for me to use.


The second tie was given to me by a student who has given me a few ties this year.
Let's look at the tie stats for this one -
Material: polyester
Width at widest point: 8cm
Best Knot: probably a half-Windsor but you could get away with a schoolboy four-in-hand.
As you can see it isn't made from a fancy material and it's also a second hand tie, probably produced around the mid 1990s. Yet I have been given a number of ties by this boy over the year. He mainly gives me ties that he has pilfered from his Dad who it seems has a number of ties in his own collection  as well. However, he tells me that he does this with his Dad as he always needs to find the right tie which has a story behind it. This is because I always tell the boys that every tie has a story. Whenever I was presented with this tie by the young man I ask him straight away "Tell me the story behind this tie?". He is a clever kid and he looked me in the eye and told me that I should be able to make it up myself! "Look at the tie," he said. "It's got all sorts of different sports teams on it. You're always going on about sport and how good it is. It's got rugby and cricket and a few others. It's also a tie. So it combines the things that you like the most. That's why we thought it would be perfect for you." 
A great story from a a young man who has a bit of class and style in his own way. So even if the tie did not have a story before I really think it has a cracker now.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

2 comments:

  1. Any good grabologist should aquaint himself with the following research paper. It contains the FINAL answer to how to tie a tie.

    http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~tmf20/TIES/PAPERS/paper_physica_a.pdf

    See also:
    http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~tmf20/tieknots.shtml

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  2. Jonathan,
    Thanks for your comments. The websites you mention are really good on how to tie a tie. I'm looking forward to aving a go at all 85 different ways to tie my tie.
    Cheers,
    Liam

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